The results for Quarter Two of 2014/15 have been released by the Ministry of Health.

Taranaki DHB Planning, Funding, and Population Health General Manager, Becky Jenkins said, “This quarter’s results have seen an increase in Taranaki DHB’s performance and results in most areas.”

“A focus on the six key areas is important to continue to improve health, reduce inequalities and improve the quality of health services for local people. While there is always room for improvement, Taranaki’s overall performance and results reflect the hard work of staff in the Taranaki DHB and those in the health sector to improve the health of the people of Taranaki.”

Taranaki DHB Chief Operating Officer Rosemary Clements said, “In terms of our hospital services, the results show people in Taranaki have improved access to elective surgery and have been provided with more advice and support to quit smoking by our hospitals. We are also ranked second in the country for the new faster cancer treatment health target.”

The health target results for Taranaki DHB are:

Shorter stays in Emergency Departments: Target 95%, Achieved 94%

94% of patients seen in Taranaki Emergency Departments were admitted, discharged, or transferred from the department within six hours.

This result can be attributed to Taranaki DHB and Midland Health Network, the network of 99% of General Practitioners (GPs) in Taranaki, working closely together to ensure patients receive the right care, at the right place. That is, the Emergency Department for all emergencies, and their GP for other non-urgent medical needs.

Nationally, DHBs have performed well in relation to the shorter stays in Emergency Departments target with a national result of 94.3%, an improvement of 1.6 % on the quarter one 2014/15 results.

Achievement against the target this quarter is despite there being an increase of 3,741 presentations to Emergency Departments nationally when compared to the same quarter in 2013/14.

Improved Access to Elective Surgery: Target 100%, Achieved 116%

Taranaki DHB has again achieved over the target of 100% (for the population) for the improved access to elective surgery target. Taranaki DHB has delivered this across a wide range of surgical specialities.

Assisting in this result has been an ongoing focus on ensuring patients are well prepared for surgery, and a continued reduction in day-of surgery-cancellations. Taranaki DHB is also undertaking a project to increase the surgical day procedure rate. This project is supported by the Ministry of Health.

Significant benefits also continue to be realised from the implementation of the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) programmes.

The national improved access to elective surgery health target has been achieved with 84,022 elective surgical discharges, against a year-to-date target of 78,581. This is 5441 (6.9%) more than planned.

Faster Cancer Treatment: Target 85%, Achieved 75%

This is the first quarter of public reporting of the faster cancer treatment health target results and Taranaki is ranked second for its performance.

Taranaki DHB plans to continue this strong performance, and its collaborative relationship with the MidCentral DHB, to continue to work towards the target.

The new target is 85% of patients receive their first cancer treatment (or other management) within 62 days of being referred with a high suspicion of cancer and a need to be seen within two weeks by July 2016, increasing to 90 percent by June 2017. Results cover those patients who received their first cancer treatment between July and December 2014.

The Ministry is continuing to monitor DHB performance against the previous cancer health target, shorter waits for cancer treatment. This quarter every patient ready for cancer treatment continued to receive it within the target of four weeks.

Increased Immunisation: Target 95%, Achieved 93%

This quarter, 93% of Taranaki eight-month-olds were fully immunised. This is an increase of 4% on last quarter.

Taranaki DHB has worked closely with primary care organisations, hospital services, outreach immunisation services, the National Immunisation Register and Well Child Providers on strategies to help improve our immunisation uptake, including early enrolment of newborns with a GP.

A high level of immunisation coverage (around 95%) is required to prevent community spread of two common infectious diseases - measles and whooping cough.

Taranaki DHB and the wider sector are working together to increase activity through to June 2015, with the aim of reaching the 95% target.

Taranaki DHB is committed to working collaboratively with our Primary Care Organisation to continue to strengthen and implement a range of good practices to ensure all patients who smoke are offered or given effective stop smoking support.

More Heart and Diabetes Checks: Target 90%, Achieved 90%

This quarter, 90% of the eligible population had heart and diabetes checks. This is a 1.6% increase on Taranaki’s quarter one results.

Diabetes and cardiovascular disease remains one of the main causes of ill health in Taranaki and Taranaki DHB continues to work hard to provide the best outcomes for these people.

The implementation of a multidisciplinary team to support the care provided by GP practices, and the ongoing education of GP’s and practice nurses in the care and management of diabetic patients in the community, are just two examples.